Trillion Dollar Messiah

Senator Mitch McConnell has recently argued the audacity of the economic stimulus package by figuring that if 1 million dollars were saved every day from the birth of Jesus until now, it would not total 1 trillion dollars.
McConnell’s argument maintains that 2009 x 365 x 1,000,00= 733,285,000,000. Of course, a more appropriate dating for the [...]

Kennedy, Obama, and Language

Robert Frost offered a poem to celebrate the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. Kennedy explained his choice saying:

I asked Robert Frost to come and speak at the inauguration because I felt he had something important to say to those of us who are occupied with the business of government, that he would remind us that [...]

Obama Extreme Makeover

The Obama family gets $100,000 to customize their new home on 1600 Pennsylvania. The living quarters comprise 24 rooms (of the total 132, which totals 55,000 square feet). America’s first series of executive decisions from the new administration will certainly come not through the President, but from the First Lady. If the president-elect is wise [...]

Voting

Voting is not only a right, it is a responsibility. Surely this sentiment has made way into scores of conversations during the recent presidential election. But does its repetition make it true? Is it true that all people have a responsibility to vote? Does this mean presidential elections, or does it also include all government [...]

Election Night 2008

So I was that guy in line at Ben and Jerry’s who was sipping on the free coffee he just picked up at Starbucks. Nothing like typically overpriced coffee and 11% milk fat ice cream to stimulate voter participation. It is the American dream.
Speaking of the American dream, Barack Obama has officially been declared our [...]

The End of Apathy

So what happened to voter apathy? Perhaps this expression found its true voice during the incumbent elections of 1996 and 2004. In both cases, the party who was not privy to the White House cookie jar sensed a letdown with their candidate (Dole/Kerry). Yet, while the respective parties desired change, there was also a sentiment [...]

Faith, Politics and Thumpin’ It

Tuesday evening I attended a lecture at Rhodes College by Georgetown Professor, Jacques Berlinerblau , on the role of faith in politics. To support his claim that America is hardly a secular nation, and instead very religiously motivated (a claim that is found in his most recent book Thumpin’ It), he noted that it is [...]

Just Generosity

I love Ronald Sider’s Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America. Here are a few statistics I found particularly interesting:

77% of stocks are owned by 10% of Americans.
In 1960, the average CEO made 41 times the average wage of a factory worker. Today, that same CEO makes 431 times the wage of [...]

External Evaluation

The Graduate School is up for re-accreditation. Monday and Tuesday the campus hosted representatives from the Association of Theological Schools, the body that certifies seminaries and divinity schools. I sat in a meeting as a student representative, but had little to say. The constant thing I kept hearing related to the importance of external evaluation [...]

Political Parties

You may not vote at all. But if you choose to vote, you very well may pick a candidate different than the man of my choice. This is okay. Interestingly, I am not sure everyone feels the same way. It is interesting how voting takes on an evangelistic tenor. While citizenship ensures one vote per [...]